Map of the Masons Read online

  MAP OF THE MASONS

  A Nick Caine Adventure #7

  by

  K.T. TOMB

  Created by

  J.R. Rain & Aiden James

  Acclaim for the authors:

  “Gripping, adventurous, and romantic—J.R. Rain’s The Lost Ark is a breakneck thriller that traces the thread of history from Biblical stories to current-day headlines. Be prepared to lose sleep!”

  —James Rollins, international bestselling author of Bloodline

  “Aiden James has written a deeply psychological, gripping tale that keeps the readers hooked from page one.”

  —Bookfinds on The Forgotten Eden

  “J.R. Rain delivers a blend of action and wit that always entertains. Quick with the one-liners, but his characters are fully fleshed out (even the undead ones) and you’ll come back again and again.”

  —Scott Nicholson, bestselling author of The Red Church

  “The intense writing style of Aiden James kept my eyes glued to the story and the pages seemed to fly by at warp speed. Twists, turns, and surprises pop up at random times to keep the reader off balance. It all blends together to create one of the best stories I have read all year.”

  —Huntress Reviews for The Devil’s Paradise

  The Nick Caine Adventures

  by J.R. Rain and Aiden James

  1. Temple of the Jaguar

  2. Treasure of the Deep

  3. Pyramid of the Gods

  by Aiden James

  4. Curse of the Druids

  5. Secret of the Loch

  6. River of the Damned

  by K.T. Tomb

  7. Map of the Masons

  8. Mountains of the Moon

  9. Order of the Cyclops

  10. Labyrinth of the Minotaur

  11. Blade of the Ripper

  Map of the Masons

  Copyright © 2016 by J.R. Rain and Aiden James

  All rights reserved.

  Ebook Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Epilogue

  Reading Sample

  About the Author

  Map of the Masons

  Prologue

  The last conversation I’d had with Agent Spence still rang clear in my head. And in all honesty, if I’d anticipated half of the drama that discussion would eventually land us in, I would have told his secret agent, ‘men in black’ ass what to do with his idol-seeking assignment.

  “So, what’s the catch? Why do you need us to flush ‘em out of this new jungle?”

  “Our contacts tell us the brothers are following up on a lead about an ancient statue that was reportedly stolen sixty years ago from a wealthy Oahu resident,” he’d said. “It’s a statue, three feet in height, made of solid gold.... But there is more. The statue was never intended to be in a private collection.”

  “You mean it was stolen by the rich guy living along Waikiki?” I’d persisted.

  “Well… let’s just say it was a legitimate purchase from nefarious sorts—not all that different than something you guys would arrange in your previous lives,” he’d said.

  That statement had stung me. Perhaps a little more than it should have too.

  “However, the important thing now is to get it back for the Department of Interior office, as the statue means a great deal to the native Hawaiians,” he’d continued. “It’s actually a rare depiction of Pele.”

  “You mean, the goddess?” Ishi had asked, immediately horrified. He’d made a gesture with his hands of what I later realized was a volcano erupting violently. “That Pele?”

  “Yes, that’s correct.”

  “So, it’s a real idol, and not an imitation version,” I’d said, while exchanging glances with Ishi. At the time, his unease had been growing worse by the second.

  “If you mean does the idol date back to pre-colonial times, or older? Yes,” Agent Spence confirmed, chuckling again as his gaze had settled on Ishi and the mortified look on his face. “But you don’t really believe in all the mumbo-jumbo bullshit about Pele, do you?”

  Ishi had looked at me before answering, and maybe I should’ve cautioned him to just let it go… but I hadn’t. Maybe I’d needed a little more fun at my little buddy’s expense. Maybe I’d wanted to see what our big boss believed…. Or, maybe after everything Ishi and I had gone through together, I wasn’t quite ready to dismiss the legends of a temperamental goddess as a fable. Especially when given my recent luck with the ladies—mortal and otherwise.

  “When we’re out on our own this time, do you think you can get us a cell phone to use?” I asked, deciding to divert us from a debate about Pele’s reality. Besides, after learning about our last guide’s hotline to Agent Jacobs, I wanted to have that kind of quick access to Spence too. “Better yet, how about getting us a couple of the new satellite versions?”

  “Well… having those privileges is what following protocol will do for you,” Spence had replied; seemingly ready to move on to the details of our next assignment. “Taking another ill-advised side trip in commando fashion will leave you missing more than just your skivvies. Comprende?”

  Okay… so we couldn’t do any more ‘favor missions’ for Agent Jacobs, or anyone else. Ishi and I had nodded.

  “Good… I will see that you both have the latest communications gear,” he said. “Now for the most important details. You guys will be leaving for Hilo tomorrow morning, and will be based in a resort condo in Kona—not far from the volcano and the jungle you’ll be searching. One of our agents stationed in the islands will meet you, and she will help you guys get acclimated to the area….”

  She? I have to admit that I’d been completely intrigued at the time, and even more so by the lovely name that followed…. Anouhea Kahanamoku. Dangerous drug lord brothers and a legendary goddess with a far-reaching curse have essentially produced the spice that piqued my curiosity… but the promise of a living gal with an alluring moniker had added something more. Whether it was an ingredient to seal the deal or ensure disaster, I didn’t know and can’t say that I cared at the time either.

  There had been only one way to know for sure, and that’s what had brought Ishi and me to the point we were at currently. Speeding away as fast as we could from the fiery river of molten lava that was being belched out at us by a hella pissed off volcano.

  So now that you’re all caught up on the present condition of things…

  Chapter One

  If I was going to be barreling down a cow path in a Land Rover while explosions of molten rock were being thrown at me by an angry goddess, I’d just as soon be behind the wheel. From the passenger’s seat, all I could do was pucker my butt cheeks, try to keep from screaming and hope that the strap above the door, upon which I had a white-knuckled grip, didn’t break off from the vehicle’s frame.

  “Left! Right! Right again! Straight! Floor it!” Ishi, who was in the back seat and holding onto
the headrest of my seat for dear life, didn’t seem to have any problem with the screaming part. With his face only inches from my ear and in a pitch two octaves above that of a seven-year-old girl, he called out each of the falling missiles to our driver as she tried to maneuver through them and screamed back over her shoulder for him to shut up.

  Needless to say, all of the warm and fuzzy thoughts that I’d had about our gorgeous Polynesian princess from the moment I heard the name Anouhea Kahanamoku had been completely obliterated like the trees that were bursting into flames as the lava flow, which was moving down the ravine to our left, wrapped around them. If the molten rock flow got to where the cow path crossed the ravine before we did, we were screwed.

  Yeah, I know, I’d mocked the entire Goddess of Fire myths from the get-go, but after what we’d experienced kicking around in the jungle at the base of Kilauea, I’d had a Pele epiphany. Trust me, there is some weird shit going on in that jungle, including the complete disappearance of the Ramos brothers that we’d been there to catch with the Idol of Pele.

  The good news was that we had recovered the idol; the bad news was that we might not make it back to Kona alive.

  “The crossing!” Ishi and I screamed in unison. The lava flow was inching very close to the narrow path where we had to cross to get off of the mountain. Even if it didn’t actually touch the Land Rover, its intense heat could cause the fuel tank to explode.

  All three of us held our breath as Anouhea crushed the pedal to the floor. We plunged down the path into the ravine and shot up the other side.

  “Yes!” we all cried out with a collective release of breath.

  Our celebration was short lived. We might not have to deal with lava any longer, but a ball of molten rock, the size of a VW Bug, smashed into the path ahead of us and forced Anouhea into the jungle on my side; not exactly where I wanted to be. As she drove half on and half off the trail, the screech of rocks as they scraped down the side of the Land Rover was doing even more damage to my ears than Ishi’s high pitched screaming was.

  Just as Anouhea swerved back onto the path, the lava bomb behind us exploded and sent thousands of pieces of stone shrapnel flying in every direction. Several of them peppered the back of the Land Rover; one of them smashing through the window and landing in the cargo area behind Ishi where it started to smolder.

  That one, final explosion had been the closing note to the violent opera that Kilauea had played out for us. With an enormous sigh, our driver let up on the pedal and began a much slower and steadier pace down the path that would lead us out of the jungle.

  Finally able to let go of the strap with one hand and feeling the weight of the silence that surrounded us, I looked over at Anouhea. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she stared directly ahead and guided us down the path.

  “You okay?” I asked in a soft tone.

  She nodded her head rapidly, but would not allow herself to turn and look at me.

  With Ishi no longer clenching the back of my seat, I turned to ask the same question of my Tawankan partner. “You o… oh shit! Stop!”

  The smoldering rock in the cargo area of the Land Rover had just burst into flame behind Ishi’s seat.

  Before Anouhea mashed down with both feet on the brakes, Ishi was already out the door and rolling into the thick foliage beside the path. Anouhea and I weren’t far behind him.

  “The idol!” Anouhea cried out, watching the flame roared up as it started to consume the back seat and was rapidly spreading across the ceiling to the front seat.

  “The Land Rover!” I shouted, a half second after her.

  As gallant as I wanted to be, charging into that inferno to retrieve the idol was the last thing on my mind. At the rate the flame was spreading, the fuel tank would surely explode at any moment. Dragging Ishi back onto the path with one hand and Anouhea with the other, we started sprinting down the path until I saw a large boulder off to one side. We dove behind the boulder just in time to hear the explosion and see fragments of what used to be an off-road vehicle flying past.

  “Everybody okay?” I gasped, still trying to catch my breath from the entire chain of events that had unfolded.

  “The idol,” Anouhea whispered. “We’ve failed.”

  “You mean, this idol?” Ishi said, producing a duffel bag with the item that we’d nearly gotten killed to retrieve inside. All 32 of his straight, white teeth were in full view.

  I’ve never wanted to kiss a man, but in that moment, I briefly considered planting one on Ishi’s full, Tawankan lips. “Dude,” I said, slapping him on the back in a manly fashion.

  Anouhea didn’t have the same reservations that I did and she did plant a solid kiss on his lips. It was so out of the ordinary for all of us that we all sat back a moment later and stared at each other with wide eyes.

  “Sorry,” Anouhea muttered, a moment later, breaking the awkwardness.

  I nearly brought it back with my comment. “That’s okay, I was thinking of doing the same thing.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Ishi responded, pushing me away and scrambling to his feet. “Not in this lifetime, Nick Caine!”

  In reality, we laughed a whole lot harder than we should have, but that was mostly due to the massive sense of relief that had washed over us.

  From a safe distance, the sight of Kilauea belching molten rock was fascinating and, in all honesty, one of the most beautiful displays of nature that I’ve ever seen. We watched Kilauea for a few moments and then considered the roaring fireball that had completely engulfed the Land Rover.

  “That’s not good,” Anouhea said.

  “Don’t sweat it,” I replied, placing an arm around her shoulders. “With the way those rocks ripped it up down the passenger’s side a minute ago, it was totaled anyway.”

  “Shall we?” Ishi asked, turning and starting down the path.

  There really wasn’t much else we could do. If we were lucky, we’d run into a pineapple farmer or any of a thousand geologists and reporters that would be flocking to the site for a ride back to Kona. We could already see a half dozen helicopters circling from a safe distance overhead. The circus was already starting.

  I took my eyes from the sky for a moment, reached into the pocket of my shirt and produced one of my adored menthol cigarettes. I lit it and took a deep pull, thinking to myself that nothing had ever tasted better to me in my entire life.

  It was the taste of relief.

  “Come on you two,” I said to Ishi and Anouhea. “I need a damn drink!”

  Chapter Two

  “You haven’t learned anything, have you?” Ishi scolded. The scowl on his face was even deeper than I’d ever seen it before.

  “Learned what?” I asked, returning his scowl as I leaned back in the comfy leather seat of the private jet that our boss, William Spence had sent to retrieve us from Hilo and fly us back to D.C.

  I’d settled in and allowed Anouhea’s sweet scent and the taste of her lips to linger. It had been my intention to drift off to sleep with those delightful mementos of our Hawaiian adventure still flowing over me like the gentle waves of a private lagoon but of course, Ishi had ruined that before we even started to taxi out onto the runway.

  “Look at the pattern,” Ishi said, holding his index finger as he was about to start ticking off a set of points, like my mom used to do whenever I was getting one of her lectures about the dozens of reasons that I was not allowed to do something.

  “You meet a girl—”

  “Woman,” I interrupted to correct him.

  “Fine, you meet a woman—” he continued.

  “A Polynesian princess,” I interrupted again. If he was going to give me an obnoxious lecture, I might as well have some fun with it.

  “Now you’re pushing it.”

  “She was a princess, don’t you think? I mean, if one was going to define a princess, wouldn’t Anouhea possess most of those tributes?” I decided to start ticking off a list on my fingers. “She’s beautiful…”

  “Wo
uld you shut up a minute!” Ishi snapped. “I’m serious.”

  “I’m serious too.”

  “Listen to me.” He scrambled forward, going through his points a lot more quickly than he’d intended. “At first, the woman doesn’t like you…”

  I started to insert ‘Polynesian princess’ again.

  “Don’t you say it or I swear to God,” he said through clenched teeth as he held up his hand. I’d never seen Ishi so pissed. But his Tawankan accent sounded so much more amusing when it was pitched with frustration.

  “At first, the woman doesn’t like you. That makes you want her all the more. We get into some kind of dangerous shit and escape with our lives. Suddenly, she wants you. You fall all over yourself because she finally gives you what you wanted. We get on a plane and go off to somewhere else. You never hear from her again and then you bawl your eyes out that you can’t find love. Then we go back over Marie again… Jesus. What’s the point of it all?”

  “I don’t bawl my eyes out.” I really wasn’t in the mood to argue with him, but being a man’s man, I had to correct that statement.

  “Mope, whine, complain, babble on continuously; it all amounts to the same thing. I’m tired of it. Why haven’t you learned? Why didn’t you learn from Mayta in Ecuador? Why didn’t you learn in Scotland, when—”

  “Stop!” I snapped, holding up a hand. He was just about to cross a line by mentioning what had happened to Marie in Scotland.

  My sharp warning and the glare that I leveled in his direction had stopped him from continuing on with that thought. There was a long pause, like two bulls measuring each other before a fight and then Ishi turned away and sighed. “Just… I don’t know. Just be careful. This shit is going to bite you in the ass one day… if it hasn’t already.”

  The private jet that Project Golden Eye had sent for us had a separate conference room in the back and Ishi retreated to that space and closed the door behind him. I’d expected for there to be a long, awkward silence between the two of us that would hang over us until we got back to D.C. However, it was less than a minute before Ishi was coming back through the conference room door with an enormous smile on his face.